Wednesday, April 14, 2010

Saland Votes Against Absentee Voting Rights

First Molinaro and now Saland takes stand against voting rights.

In February Assemblyman Marcus Molinaro flip-flopped and voted against his own bill which would have eased the amount of information required to vote by absentee ballot in NY State. The bill passed the Assembly with overwhelming bi-partisan support. See our previous report.

Now his counterpart in the State Senate, Stephen Saland has also voted against easier access for voters needing to vote by absentee ballot. The bill passed 35-27 mostly along party lines.

After the fiasco of the recent absentee ballot challenges, the people of Columbia County expected to have our elected officials stand with the voters.Sadly they have both failed to do so.Common Cause praised the passage of the bill. Common Cause/NY Applauds State Senate's Bipartisan Passage of Election Reforms"Common Cause/NY applauds the Senate for passing these long overdue election reforms. They remove unnecessary impediments and inconveniences that make it harder for New Yorkers to be able to vote and help streamline election and campaign procedures. As long-time supporters of no-excuse absentee voting, we are particularly pleased by the passage of S2868B (Addabbo), which simplifies the absentee ballot application process. That bill has already passed the Assembly and we look forward to celebrating its signing into law."